


Guarding the Morons While Trying to Acquire Real Power

by Violetsaber525



Series: How Getting Caught up with the Starks Fixed the Universe [10]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: BAMF Women, F/M, Gen, Maggie Fixes Everything, Not Canon Compliant, Other, Sentient Infinity Stones (Marvel), Space Hair, Space Pirates, Thanos A+ parenting, Thanos is disapointed, The Ravagers - Freeform, protective groot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-18 13:35:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29983650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Violetsaber525/pseuds/Violetsaber525
Summary: Space. A new frontier. (Well, not really... it's just been a while since she's been off Earth.)This is the story of Sigyn traveling (and getting arrested) with some random space morons and Gamora, while Loki and Thor do a 'Road Trip Across the Universe' to track her down (yes, they dress like sexy space pirates). Her goal is to acquire Real Power all the while avoiding the purple thumb while giving an angry genocidal Kree gets his comeuppance. (Where is Captain Marvel, again? Maybe if she had a space sword too, he would have been taken care of by now)Anyways...Warnings of Space hair, Space references, and Space jokes since Peter would have wanted it!**I apologize for nothing.**
Relationships: Drax the Destroyer & Gamora & Groot & Peter Quill & Rocket Raccoon, Loki & Guardians of the Galaxy Team, Loki (Marvel)/Original Female Character(s), Loki/Sigyn (Marvel), Loki/Thor (Marvel), Peter Quill & Yondu Udonta, Sigyn & Thor (Marvel), Thor & Guardians Of The Galaxy Team
Series: How Getting Caught up with the Starks Fixed the Universe [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2040386
Comments: 6
Kudos: 6





	1. The Deadliest of Them All

**Author's Note:**

> Mwahahaha Space! Space! Space!

Sigyn enjoyed the warm sunshine at the edge of the fountain and people watched as Rocket and Groot discussed their strategy on how to capture Quill. The best one seemed that Rocket would distract him (knock him out with his gun) and then Groot would scoop him up and put him in a sack. Very Bugs Bunny/ Elmer Fudd of them, she thought as she grinned at the pair, her magenta smart glasses with reflective lenses recording the whole thing.

Tony had made her smart glasses along with her own AI for her last birthday, just before she left for Vanaheim. He had somehow managed to compress the AI into a laptop, powered off an arc reactor that was tucked into one of her pocket dimensions. After doing several experiments, they had found that since the arc reactor was similar to Space in composition and energy, it easily interacted with her seiðr and pocket dimensions without blowing up. So the glasses connected wirelessly to the laptop that ran her personal AI, VICTOR (Virtual Integrated Collaborative Tactical Operator Reinforcement), through a tiny hole to her pocket dimension. He could assist her in anything from managing the kids, her endless collection of weapons, SI and Asgardian obligations, and anything else that she needed help with. The best part was when she was in the Tower or any of Tony’s properties, VICTOR had a holographic body. Tony was working on hard light holograms… it was very Red Dwarf of him, but at least VICTOR was nothing like Rimmer and she was not even close to being like Dave, she hated curry and beer. If he had to be like any of the Red Dwarf characters, she would say he was a mixture of Cat, Holly, and Kryten. He was snarky, smartly dressed (in his holographic form), smart, and devoted. He would jump between calling her Your Majesty to Mags and had no qualms about telling her when she was wrong, which she appreciated.

“ _Boss-man would love this planet_ ,” VICTOR’s voice came from her earpiece, “ _and I can only imagine the trouble that Ned, Peter, Harley, and that red cape would get into_.” It was nice to hear his voice, she hadn’t used him since she had been on Earth last.

She hummed in agreement before muttering softly, “they’d adopt a new space pet, for sure.” She eyed the Orloni that looked like Earth lizards but were more like the rats or cockroaches of the universe. “I betcha they would each want an orloni… it would be like rabbits in Australia with them breeding and overtaking the planet.”

“ _Boss-man would have a heart attack but it might be worth it_ ,” his deep, but jovial Scottish voice said. She loved his accent and the kilt was just an added bonus with his holographic form. Loki had not been amused and Tony knew that when he created VICTOR that Loki would react that way. Those two spent too much time needling each other.

“Yeah, not worth it,” she replied. “Maybe some space candy and lots of pictures instead,” she said softly.

“Hey lady, if you’re coming…” Rocket’s voice interrupted her lazy thoughts.

“Oh, yes,” she replied as she got up and strode after the pair. They crossed the courtyard and took the stairs to the higher level to the shop where Quill had gone into was located, then kept their distance as they waited for him to emerge. As they waited, a woman with all green skin and brunette hair with reddened tips came over and leaned against the building. She pulled a large fruit from her pack and started to snack on it as she eyed the surrounding areas. She made eye contact with Sigyn, grinned at her before she took a large bite, juice dripped down her chin. “Hmm,” she tilted her head and tapped her glasses, zooming in. “I think we may have some competition.”

Rocket leaned around the potted plant that he was standing behind and eyed the Zehoberei. “Oh. Shit.”

“What is it Rocket?” Sigyn asked as she eyed the raccoon.

“She’s a daughter of Thanos,” Rocket mumbled grumpily as he took out his tablet and started to tap on it.

“That’s not good,” She sighed and realized that she needed something better than the snug dress and white platform shoes if she was going to grab the Power Stone right under the nose of a highly trained and weaponized being.

“I am… Groot,” Groot said as he twined around Sigyn and pulled her back towards him.

She patted him on his branches, “thanks buddy but I don’t need you to protect me.”

Rocket glared at Groot and kept tapping on his tablet as he muttered. “It might be better to get arrested and then escape than have to deal with Gamora...”

“ _Mags? I’m picking up energy readings of The Bifrost…_ ” VICTOR’s voice told her excitedly. She still didn’t know how he had tapped into Xandar’s systems. She was betting Tony had used the metal that Thor and Loki gave him to enhance the laptop and make VICTOR more advanced than any of his other AIs.

“How do you boys say to some backup?” She asked as she stepped behind Groot and shifted to her battle armor. She tapped her earpiece, “Can you get in contact with Loki or Thor, VICTOR?”

“ _Neither is wearing an earpiece_ ,” VICTOR replied, sullenly.

“Well, manipulate them over here somehow, please.” She said as she stood next to Rocket.

“ _Yes, Ma’am_!” He replied excitedly, meaning that she probably wouldn’t approve of his methods. Which was confirmed with several holographic emergency screens appearing and arrows pointing with the words ‘ **Lost wife, this way…** ’

“What the hell?” Rocket stared at the screens in shock and then eyed her. “Who are you _really_?”

“Ummm, I’ll explain later,” she deflected as she motioned to Quill flirting with Gamora. “I think we have more important things to worry about.”

“I am Groot!” Groot moved her behind him before he ran after Rocket and the fighting couple.

“Why can’t this ever be easy?” She asked rhetorically as she rolled her neck and pulled out her batons and followed after them.

*******

When the Bifrost dropped Loki and Thor in the middle of Xandar and some shocked people, Loki didn’t expect a direct map to his wife. The emergency screens flashing ‘ **Lost wife, this way…** ’ in English was both surprising and shocking.

“I see that she’s activated VICTOR,” Thor said with amusement, knowing how much VICTOR irked Loki.

Ignoring his brother, he ran in the direction of the arrows. As they followed the signs and dodged the populace, they came across two humanoids fighting while a Groot and a raccoon tried to restrain the female while Sigyn stood back and searched for an opening.

“What is a rabbit doing on Xandar?” Thor asked as he eyed the raccoon balanced on top of the green female’s shoulders. He flinched when she bit the raccoon and then broke the Groot’s branches, “Biting?! That’s not fair!” The raccoon yelled just as the Zehoberei threw him off.

“It’s a raccoon, Thor,” Loki corrected as they ran up to Sigyn and he grabbed her. “Are you ok?” He asked breathlessly as he eyed her and the grin on her face threw him off. “What?”

“Hi.”

“Hi. Now do explain why you stayed here instead of going home?” Loki demanded as he shook her gently.

“I thought that the Zehoberei were wiped out?” Thor mussed as they observed the man run away and the Zehoberei threw a knife at his hand, dropping the orb.

“Real Power, dear. Real Power,” she replied as she eyed the silver orb that rolled towards them after the man dropped it. She bent and scooped it up before it rolled off the balcony. She grinned and then teleported the three of them down to the ground level, a bit away from the fight.

“Hey! That’s mine!” The man yelled from above them as the woman hauled him back and punched him in the face before jumping from the balcony towards them.

“I think it’s time to go,” Thor stressed as she ran towards them, a sword in her left hand. As she charged towards them, the man jumped down on top of her.

“You stupid _fool_ , you should have learned that I am not to be messed with!” She yelled at him as they grappled. Right as she twisted herself on top and went to stab him with her knife, he attached a small rocket booster to her waist.

“I don’t learn,” he said sardonically, “One of my issues,” he hit the button and she was blasted away.

He got up and approached the three of them, “Give it! That’s mine!”

Sigyn paused and looked him in his eyes and gave him a mocking grin, “No.”

Before they could argue, the tree came over, wrapped his branches around the man, and started to stuff him into his sack. “Thanks, lady,” the raccoon said right before he was pushed aside by the green woman and she approached them with her sword, aiming for Sigyn.

Sigyn discreetly handed the orb to Loki before she pulled out her sword and grinned at the green woman. “It’s been a while since I’ve had a worthy opponent,” she quipped as she twirled the sword and she stepped forward. Moving away from the others, the women circled each other and eyed the other's stance.

“Likewise,” the green woman stated before she swung her weapon up and they ran at each other and clashed swords.

“Is this normal?” The raccoon asked as the Groot held a wiggling bag with the man in it.

“Let me go, bro!” Was heard from the bag.

“Yes,” Loki rolled his eyes, ignoring the wiggling bag, “she’s been a bit bored, and not many can match her prowess.”

“She yours?” The raccoon asked as he nodded towards Sigyn.

“No, Loki is hers,” Thor quipped as he nudged Loki, nearly knocking him over.

“I. Am. Groot.”

“She **_is_** pretty amazing,” Thor replied to the Groot.

“You speak Groot?” The raccoon asked Thor who rolled his eyes.

“Yes, they taught it on Asgard. It was an elective,” Thor replied smugly before turning to Loki, “and **_you_** said we would never need it.”

“Shut it, brother,” Loki grumbled before elbowed Thor, “with All-Speak, language classes become unnecessary.”

The raccoon eyed them before he held out his paw, “I’m Rocket, that’s Groot,” he pointed to the tree.

“We are Loki and Thor of Asgard,” Thor replied as he eyed the paw before shaking it gently.

“Asgardians, huh?” He eyed the women fighting. “She Sigyn?”

Thor eyed Loki before looking back at Rocket, “Why do you ask?”

“Because she arrived wearing a Vanir dress, wielding a Vanir weapon, showed signs of magic and she is now beating the shit out Thanos’s best daughter. I can draw conclusions,” Rocket said defensively.

“That is a fair conclusion, rabbit,” Thor grinned at Rocket and Loki rolled his eyes.

They watched as the women twirled and fought, Sigyn had manifested a shield and was battling the woman skillfully and gleefully, an amused grin on her face. The green woman had a grim and determined look on her face as she swung her silver sword and left a slight gash on Sigyn’s cheek before Sigyn sliced the woman’s left leg. “I would like to know the name of my opponent before I kill her,” the woman ground out as their blades clashed and sparked while the crowd around them made noises of shock and appreciation at the show.

“I’m Maggie, or Sigyn, depending on the realm,” Sigyn replied as she broke their swords apart and went to bash the woman with her shield. Dodging the woman, she ducked and shot out a leg, trying to trip her up, “and who are you?”

“I go by many names, Asgardian, but I'm sure the one that most know me by is Gamora, the deadliest woman in the whole galaxy,” She replied breathlessly as she shot out a fist towards Sigyn’s throat.

“Really? And I thought I’ve had that title for at least a thousand years,” Sigyn replied snarkily as she dodged the fist and kicked Gamora’s knee.

“Your woman is really a badass,” Rocket told Loki before he turned to Groot who was watching the fight eagerly while flinching when Sigyn was hit and cheering when she got in a hit on Gamora. “I think we need to go, Groot. This fight is going to draw the Nova Corps and I don’t want to have to break out of jail.” Just as he said that they were surrounded by ships. “Well, that jinxed it.”

The women were caught in tractor beams and Sigyn looked down at Loki and Thor with a grin on her face right before she teleported them just out of the way of the group of Nova Corpsmen that were hustling in to arrest them. She had quickly dressed them to blend in as she tucked her weapons back into her pocket realm. Rocket and Groot were also picked up by the tractor beams and the bag with the man in it hit the ground. Two of the Nova Corpsmen came up behind him and grabbed him before he could runoff.

“By the authority of the Nova Corps, you are under arrest,” came from one of the ships and echoed throughout the plaza, “for endangerment to life and the destruction of property.”

“Hey! If it isn’t Star-Prince!” The husky corpsman said excitedly over the engines of the aircraft.

“Star-Lord,” the man sighed.

“Oh, _sorry_. **Lord** ,” he turned to his partner, “I picked this guy up a while back for petty theft. He’s got a code name.”

“Come on, man. It’s a… it’s an outlaw name,” the man whined.

“Just relax, pal. It’s cool to have a code name,” the Corpsman said jokingly, “It’s not that weird.”

His partner laughed and they shuffled him past the other four that were getting arrested by Corpsmen on the ground.

Thor and Loki stood among the quickly departing crowd, “I never thought I’d see the day when Sigyn was arrested,” Thor grinned in amusement before he sobered, “so, what’s the plan, brother.”

Loki sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, “I guess we need a ship and then we’ll track down Sigyn. Again.”

********

Thor and Loki kept the clothes that Sigyn had dressed them in and made their way out of the center of the city, towards the marketplace and the spaceport. Weaving their way through the market stands, Thor eyed several trinkets while Loki kept an eye out for supplies. He had enough weapons, but both he and Thor would need clothing and food if they were going to go traipsing across the Universe after Sigyn in a ship. Their Asgardian armor and Midgardian clothing would stand out and mark them as easy pickings to the pirates that controlled many of the galaxies they would pass through. “Thor!” Loki approached his brother fingering a trinket, “keep an eye out for a ship dealer.”

“Do you have any idea on what to look for in a vessel?” Thor muttered to his brother as placed the item back on the vendor’s table and moved with his brother further into the market.

“Yes. This is not the first time that we’ve sought a ship,” Loki hissed as he dragged Thor over to a used clothing vendor. Eyeing several pieces, he motioned the vendor over. “How much for those two pieces and the three over there,” he gestured to a long coat that would fit him, a tunic that would fit Thor, two weapons belts, and a woman’s hooded wrap. He haggled with the vendor, paid him, and shoved his purchase at a bewildered Thor.

“What is this for brother?” Thor looped the belts over his shoulder and hung the clothing over his arm as he followed after Loki.

“We need to blend in and we have nothing in which to blend in with,” Loki muttered back at Thor as he stopped at another stand and haggled for a long sleeveless coat for Thor to wear. Anything with sleeves, Thor would just destroy as soon as he swung his hammer.

“And the wrap?”

“For Sigyn… “ Loki avoided Thor’s sympathetic eyes and just trudged after his brother.

They purchased several more items such as foodstuffs and personal hygiene items for themselves and a few things for Sigyn. Loki didn’t know what she had in her pocket dimension, but after their campaign on Vanaheim, it was probably greatly depleted. If he had known they would be traipsing across the Universe without stopping on Midgard for a re-stock, he would have packed more tea and an emergency coffee supply for Sigyn.

They finally gathered enough supplies, Loki having discreetly dropped things into his pocket dimension after subtly getting Thor to switch out and wear the items that he purchased for him. The clothing that Sigyn had dressed them in was too posh for the visitor side of the spaceport and they both had to appear more like the dredges of the Universe. Xandar was mostly a safe and law-abiding planet, but there were parts such as the spaceport that were comparable to Peter’s Star Wars Mos Eisley and its wretched hive of scum and villainy.

The basic leather pants and under-armor of their Asgardian armor wouldn’t cause any suspicion, but the gold and the upper armor that declared their station as Princes of Asgard would draw too much attention. Clothing was switched and Thor’s items were tossed into Loki’s pocket dimension while Thor asked Mjölnir to be a bit more discreet. She shifted to a long-handled war hammer with a smaller mallet which would be harder to carry but less uncommon. After Thor was dressed in the destressed long sleeveless black leather coat, bare-armed except for his now darkened vambraces, he wrapped a scarf around his neck.

Loki nodded his approval as he pulled knives from his pocket dimension and sheathed them throughout his person for intimidation rather than use since it was faster to manifest. He had done the same as Thor and shed his long overcoat, his gorget, and chest piece. He donned the acquired coat that was essentially an all-black version of his Asgardian one over a simple black chest piece of Sigyn’s design, his fingerless gloves, and the new weapons belt where he hooked his acquired blaster on. He then wrapped the adjustable vambraces over the coat sleeves and gloves while tucking in another knife.

“Where did you get that?” Thor whined jealously as he eyed the blaster.

“Don’t worry about it, brother,” Loki grinned back. He had stolen it off the spacer that had tried pickpocketing him halfway through their little speed shopping trip.

Thor rolled his eyes and adjusted his own belt with a shrunken Jarnbjorn before he picked up Mjölnir and they headed into the spaceport. “I bet you my next three cookie supplies that Sigyn will, as Darcy says, ‘lose her shit’ when she sees you dressed like this.”

“Like what?” Loki asked as he eyed his outfit. He thought he looked no different than the dirty spacers that eyed them as they made their way towards the dealers.

“A sexy space pirate,” Thor chuckled as he swung Mjölnir back and forth as they strode along the walkways, hitting the occasional orloni that scuttled a little too close.

“And Jane wouldn’t say the same?” Loki retorted as he told himself to stop letting Darcy hang out with Thor and “teach him the way of the Midgardian”. Probably a good idea to keep Darcy away from Peter too, while he was thinking about it… “She finds me sexy, no matter what I wear,” Loki grinned, “but I’ll take your bet.”

The ships that were available for sale were hideous and nothing but junk connected to rockets. “This is a waste of our time,” Loki muttered as they passed by the tenth ship, “We would be better stealing something.. If we weren’t on Xandar, I’d do exactly that.” The Nova Corps was not to be trifled with, but it could be worse, it could be the Kree.

“How about that, brother?” Thor gestured with Mjölnir towards an M-class ship painted Sigyn’s signature teal and rose gold.

“A little flashy,” Loki eyed it, “but exactly what we need.” It was a small, sleek craft that could house a small crew, with an airlock in the lower aft section and an upper flight deck. Externally the wings were articulated to help facilitate take-off and landing, and the armament consisted of a pair of forward-mounted energy guns. They would definitely need the firepower, knowing his wife’s tendency for getting into trouble.

They approached the open hatch and called out a greeting, and an aged Achernonian male came out and gave them a look over before he grunted at them. His skin was a faded purple, his clothes a bit ragged and filthy, and his attitude would have put Odin’s to shame. Loki and he bickered over a satisfactory price as Thor stood sentry behind his brother, pretending to be his muscle. It wasn’t the first time that he had played that role, but usually, The Warriors were there as support and Sigyn was the one they ‘protected’. His silver-tongued brother soon won the being over ultimately with the gold that Frigga had sent with them after they had walked the ship and inspected the engines.

“How did we get it for only half the gold that Mother sent with us?” Thor asked later as Loki walked through the ship and disabled all the trackers that had been left with his seiðr. It would be a very short trip if they were tracked down and double-crossed by their seller.

“The Achernonian was ready to become Immaterial. He said he was dying and wanted to make sure his clan couldn’t kill him and sell his ship from under him,” Loki said distractedly as he finished his walkthrough and locked the hatch. They climbed the ladder and Loki made his way up to the pilot’s seat, punched in the command codes, and then immediately changed them to his own personal code, re-writing the ship’s start-up protocol to only respond to his bio readings. He would set up Thor and Sigyn’s, when they found her, with their own codes and bio readings after they left Xandar and the system. It was probably only a matter of time before The Nova Corps tracked them down to question them about the fight that Sigyn had been arrested for.

“Well, let’s hope this works, or this will be a really short trip,” Loki joked as he fired the engines and set a course to the next system over. They’d lose any tails they had before swinging back to pick up Sigyn and if she was shipped off-planet, they would use the Norn Queen’s sphere to find her again.

Thor clapped his hand on his brother’s shoulder in support and they lifted off and made it off Xandar before making the jump to the next galaxy over. “She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts,” Thor joked before he slid down the ladder to the lower deck.

“This is just going to be a long road trip through space with Star Wars quotes, isn’t it?” Loki muttered as he started doing diagnostics and checks on the ship. “Good thing I’m in it for you, Princess…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Welcome!
> 
> So feels on Gamora and Sigyn fighting. I think they're pretty evenly matched in strength, but Sigyn probably has a one-up since she's had a 'few' more years of practice. Rocket is super smart, smarter than Tony smart, and knows a lot about the Universe since he needs to know things to survive. So knowing about Sigyn being from Vanir shouldn't be too unrealistic. People in the Universe know about Earth/Terra/Midgard, it only makes sense that they would know about Vanaheim and Asgard. There are limits to visiting Asgard (meaning probably no one), but I felt that Vanaheim may be more like Xandar but pickier on who visits (I really need to finish my prequel so I can stop explaining/making shit up on the fly to justify my writing). 
> 
> And yes, I gave Sigyn an AI. I'm kinda wondering how you guys feel about the whole thing and how believable it really is... Let's be honest, If anyone could make it work, it would be Tony. 
> 
> Also... sexy space pirates Thor and Loki! I just couldn't help myself. (Google Images: 'Space Thor' and there is a picture of him with Stormbreaker and a sleeveless jacket, it's exactly that.) And Loki's outfit is mostly just an all-black version of Russell Dauterman's Loki without the headpiece/crown thing and the five o'clock shadow. Haven't decided on the fur collar... maybe? Loki does enjoy being a bit Extra... who knows.
> 
> Anyways...Sigyn has had time to get them both smarter and to smooth over some of their rough edges. Thor in this is closer to Ragnarok Thor's mentality but with more Earth knowledge thanks to Peter, Darcy, and Sigyn and not depressed. Loki was always smart but now he's more adjusted and less angry... he's organized, with a goal, and nothing will stop him. 
> 
> Sigyn loves fast cars and fast ships (as we've seen previously) so of course, The Boys have seen ships before. Even in Thor: Dark World they were familiar with spaceships. Can Thor drive a spaceship? No. Not even in 'real' Marvel life can Thor drive a spaceship. So Loki will be driving with help of the autopilot with Thor as an emergency backup. 
> 
> Wow. Longest end note, ever. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter!
> 
> <3


	2. In and Out of The Slammer

When Sigyn was dumped on Xandar, quite literally, into a briny fountain and fished out by a living and walking tree, she never imagined that she would be arrested. There had been a few times when they were out on their little Thor Adventures that they had come close but this was the first time it had actually happened.

“She claims to be Margaret Skold of Terra but we have no records of her in any database that we have access to. We have run all her biometrics through with no results,” The shorter, plumper Xandarian told the tall Xandarian as her handprints, DNA, and other information flashed up in front of her. “She has no enhancements and we have no idea how she even ended up on Xandar.”

“You do realize that I can hear you,” Sigyn sighed as she crossed her arms and tilted her head. “I am also known as Sigyn of Vanaheim.”

“She also claims to be the dead Princess of Vanaheim, but her biometrics read as Terran. She _does_ have an abnormal radiation output, about four times above the normal amount a Terran should be. Another anomalie is that her hormone levels are way above a normal Terran female.” The shorter man brought an x-rayed version of her body up, showing her bioreadings and bone structure, ‘Terran Female’ flashing underneath it. “We still haven’t figured out how she can understand every language she hears without a translator implant.”

“I’m a freaking goddess, with magic powers…” She muttered, “Among other things.”

“Security footage shows her battling with several different weapons, but when we arrested her, none were found. We will continue to do a deeper scan of her biometrics than we normally do, but for now, we are holding her on illegal entry, public endangerment, using illegal weapons, causing an affray, and a list of other small crimes. We are also looking for the two males that were in the vicinity that are still missing.” Pictures of Thor and Loki flashed on the screen. “Their armor is similar to hers, so we’re assuming that they are known associates.”

She rolled her eyes, she refused to transform into her Sigyn form for these idiots and become the most hunted being in the Universe by Thanos. Nope. She’d rather be imprisoned with those morons than be sliced up for The Infinity Stones in her body. Thank you. She was also glad that she had quickly teleported Thor and Loki away before they all got arrested. She knew that she’d need backup on the outside at some point and it didn’t pay to have all of them in the slammer. “Whatever. Just send me with the others, please.” If she was off Xandar, it would be easier for her to get away. God, she wanted to go home so bad. She hadn’t been home in months and months.

“What a bunch of a-holes, transport all five to the Kyln.”

********

The transport was filthy. Actually, it was past filthy. It was foul, putrid, and fetid. It was the single worst place she had even spent time in, and she had once been locked up by pirates with several other prisoners for days with no food or facilities before she broke out, killed their leader, and took over. The ride took three hours even with six jump points, before they docked, were unloaded, and then led through to processing.

“I guess most of Nova Corps wanna uphold the laws, but these ones here, they're corrupt and cruel. But, hey, that's not my problem. I ain't gonna be here long. I've escaped 22 prisons, this one's no different,” Rocket boasted as they strode off the transport. “You're lucky the broad showed up because otherwise, me and Groot would be collecting that bounty right now, and you'd be getting drawn and quartered by Yondu and those Ravagers.”

“You better not be talking about me, Rocket,” Sigyn said from behind Quill.

“Naw, lady. You’re too classy to be a broad,” Rocket grinned at her.

“I’ve had a lot of folks try and kill me over the years, I ain’t about to be brought down by a tree and a talking raccoon,” Quill quipped.

“What’s a raccoon?” Rocket asked curiously.

“It’s a devious animal on Earth that likes to feed on human food,” Sigyn said as she kicked the back of Quill’s leg in front of her. He deserved it, he was a little too big-headed and need to be more respectful or he’d not last long in this Universe. Actually, she was surprised he had lasted this long.

“Hold.” The guard stopped them and they waited for the gate.

“It’s what you are, stupid,” Quill said mockingly at Rocket as he dipped from Sigyn’s kick before catching himself. He turned and glared at her.

She smiled toothily back at him and Groot chuckled behind her, “you are proof that the American school system fails.”

“Hey!” Quill glared at her, “I have you know, I didn’t finish school.”

“That explains _so_ much,” Sigyn muttered.

“I am Groooot.”

“He is pretty stupid, isn’t he?” Sigyn replied to Groot over her shoulder. They continued down the hallway, following the guard.

Quill ignored her insult, “So, this orb has a real shiny blue suitcase, Ark of the Covenant, Maltese Falcon sort of vibe. What is it?”

“I. Am Groot.”

“So what?” Quil obviously didn’t understand Groot. “What’s with the orb?”

“I have no words for an honor-less thief,” Gamora said savagely from the front of their line.

“Pretty high and mighty coming from the lackey of a genocidal maniac,” Rocket shot back as Gamora looked back at him, “Yeah, I know who you are. Anyone who's anyone knows who you are.”

“Yeah, we know who you are,” Quill yelled a little too loudly.

“I _am_ Groot.”

“You’ve said that,” Quill glared at Groot, “and it’s just as fascinating as the first eighty-nine times you said that. What is wrong with Giving Tree here?”

“Oh, god I hate that book!” Sigyn poked Quill and he glared at her, “all it shows is that people take and take until there is nothing left to give and they are still ungrateful! It’s a mockery to society norms disguised as a children’s book!”

“Wow.” Quill eyed here, “some strong feelings there.”

“Yeah, stop judging us and I’ll lay off of you. Groot has a limited vocabulary but it doesn’t mean that he can’t communicate,” Sigyn glared at the man.

“I wasn't retrieving the orb for Ronan, I was betraying him. I had an agreement to sell it to a third party,” Gamora hurriedly interrupted, eyeing Sigyn and Quill as they glared at each other.

“Terrans, am I right?” Rocket said to her and Gamora rolled her eyes.

As they approached where their belongings were being sorted and stored, Quill noticed one of the guards with his Walkman. “Hey! Put that away!” He slipped into the open room and the gate closed behind him. “Hey! Listen to me you big blue bastard, take those headphones off, that’s mine! Those belong to impound, that tape and that player is mine!”

“Really?” Sigyn looked incredulous at the Sony Walkman, “That hasn’t been widely used since the late ‘90s Quill.” He got shocked by the guards with the stun baton. “Oh, you poor dumb bastard,” she muttered as he got stunned again.

“Hooked on a Feeling, Blue Swede, 1973, that song belongs to me!” He yelled before he was zapped again.

“Well, this is going to be fun,” Rocket said sarcastically as they all stood and watched Quill get dragged out.

The processing was miserable. They took the rest of her armor and she was stripped to her bra and underwear. _Wow,_ she thought, _I really need to shave_ , right before they sprayed her with some orange gel, forcibly pushing her against the metal grating. She was then hustled into the next room where they gave her a disgusting yellow jumpsuit with her name and crimes on the left pant leg. Yellow was her least favorite color. She could do mustard yellow maybe, oranges definitely, but not bright sunshine yellow.

She and Gamora had been separated from the other three and then processed together, separating male from female. Sigyn had been sprayed first with the sanitizing orange goo, which smelled strongly of nail polish remover, so she was already dressed by the time Gamora stumbled in, dripping with the orange liquid, a snarl on her face. Sigyn just kept her gaze focused on her surroundings while she dressed, affording her some privacy. It took a few minutes, but they were forced out and Sigyn followed behind Gamora as they met back up with the guys. They collected their bedrolls, if you could call them that, and they moved further towards the center of the cell-blocks. Threats and slurs towards Gamora became the recurring theme as the prisoners screamed and shouted at their group as they threw things at them.

“The guards will protect her, right?” Quill said worriedly as Gamora was hit with an object and the prisoners screamed at her.

“They're here to stop us from getting out. They don't care what we do to each other inside,” Rocket shouted over the rabble.

“So I can kill people who bother me because the guards don’t give a shit?” Sigyn asked as Gamora muttered poetically to herself about how her past was nothing compared to this. Groot blocked a few things that were thrown at them and stopped them from hitting her. “Thanks, big guy,” Sigyn smiled up at him as they moved closer to the center of the communal area.

As they stopped near the guard tower, a huge blue being approach Quill and rubbed his hand up his face. “Check out the new meat. I'm gonna slather you up in-“ but before he could finish his disgusting rant Groot strode forward and stuck his branches up his nose and pushed him away from Quill.

“Let's make something clear!” Rocket shouted to the crowd, “This one here is our booty! You wanna get to him, you go through us! Or, more accurately, we _go_ through **_you_**!”

“I’m with them!” Quill smiled at Rocket, relief on his face.

Sigyn patted him on the shoulder as she followed after Groot, “good boy. Keep your head down and behave.”

She lost sight of Gamora as they moved through the prisoners and Quill followed after her, Groot, and Rocket. They looked around, ate some disgusting ‘food’ a few hours later, and then Rocket and Quill found a cell to sleep in. Groot and she followed them but Groot moved towards an empty corner with a bench and motioned her to follow. Setting her bedroll down, she sat next to him on the bench. “Rocket has a plan to get out?”

“I. Am. Groot.”

“Good. I was worried that I would have to teleport us out of here blindly,” She told him softly and he wrapped a branch around her.

“I am Groot.”

“Sleep does sound like a good idea,” She replied as she watched as he anchored himself to the wall and the bench and she leaned against him. He was offering her some protection and she was not going to refuse such a kind offer. She had her powers and the ability to access her weapons from her pocket dimension, but it was nice to have someone watch her back, “Thank you, Groot, for looking out for me.”

“I am Groooot.”

“I know it’s not a problem, but thanks all the same,” she patted his chest, “night, big guy.”

“I am groot,” he said softly before she felt him relax and his movements slowed as he slept? Hibernated? She wasn’t quite sure what it was.

“I hope they found a ship,” she muttered as she used her bedroll as a pillow and she watched as Quill and Rocket became a part of a weird snuggle pile party. She shivered at the sight and was glad she had Groot to sleep on, the pile of sleeping prisoners was pretty distasteful to her. After they got out of here, she would definitely reward him and Rocket for watching out for her.

As she tried to find sleep, she wondered how mad Loki was going to be at her for allowing herself to be arrested and sent to space jail. Since he had Power, there was no reason for her to have been arrested but she felt like she owed Groot for saving her and there was something here that nagged at her. She just wished that she had more of an idea of what it was.

***********

After Loki and Thor put the ship in orbit around a small moon off of a gas giant planet that swirled with reds, browns, and electric greens, Loki did a more thorough inspection of the ship. Vanaheim had had an armada similar to the Nova Corps for planetary defense along with a small spaceport, so Loki was a bit more knowledgeable about the workings of ships than the average Asgardian. There had been a few times when they had gone on one of Thor’s adventures and they used a ship for a quick getaway when Heimdall was unfeasible, so both he and Sigyn knew how to fly. At one point she had even owned her own craft. After doing his walkthrough he headed back to the area below the flight deck where Thor was.

“How does it look?” Thor asked as he polished the blade of Jarnbjorn.

“Is that really necessary?” Loki ignored his brother’s question and glared at him, “it’s sharp enough to pierce Celestial armor, I don’t want to watch you bleed out because you slipped and cut yourself.”

Thor shrugged and Loki rolled his eyes at his brother’s stupidity. Thor may have matured in the last few years since Sigyn had come back into their lives, but he still did some stupid shit. “How much longer will you take?”

“I’m almost done. Everything appears to be functioning as it should and I see no signs of tampering,” Loki pulled some rations from his pocket dimension, handed Thor half, and sat down across from him. He opened one and took a bite. It was more disgusting than the foie gras Tony had him eat one time. He tossed it on the table, sighed, and slumped in the seat as he watched Thor eat his rations with enthusiasm while stroking his battle-ax, “please stop that.”

Thor rolled his eyes but stopped touching the Dwarven-forged battle-ax. “You worry too much, brother,” Thor grinned as he pulled a small flask of Asgardian Ale out and took a sip before handing it to Loki. He took a sip and handed it back before Thor re-capped it and tucked it back on his belt.

“I have good reason to,” Loki pushed the rest of his unfinished ration towards Thor and tossed the rest back in his pocket dimension. “I have one more thing to do, but I need you to come up to the flight deck with me. I’m going to program you in so you can take control of the ship in case of an emergency,” Loki said as he started to climb the ladder.

“So… I’m not allowed to fly?” Thor pouted as he followed behind him.

“Definitely not. I remember the last time you flew and we knocked the head off of two statues near the Vanaheim Palace. Sigyn’s father was so enraged that you were banned for five years from visiting.”

“Yes, but I’ve learned since then.”

“The time after you were left to fly on your own, you clipped the wing of the craft and crashed it on that small moon. What was the name of that again?” Loki settled in the captain’s chair and brought up the protocols for emergency flight clearance.

“Mandala. I got to spar with my older self, it was quite exhilarating!”

“Yes, the sentient moon powered by a Cosmic Seed. It took us three weeks to get you off that,” Loki complained, “after that Sigyn made me promise that you were never allowed to fly by yourself again.”

“Yes, but then I flew again after that.”

“I blame Volstagg and Fandrall for that one,” Loki muttered. “Come here and punch in a code you’ll remember.” Loki walked Thor through the sequencing and then showed him the controls and the basics on flying the ship.

“She needs a name, brother,” Thor stated as he sat in the navigation chair next to Loki after they had finished his instruction.

“You pick, I care not what it’s called,” Loki said distractedly as he flipped through the ship’s service logs.

“Thunderstrike?”

“No.”

“Stormbreaker?”

“No.”

“Tordenstock?”

“No, pick something that isn’t a weapon in Asgard’s armory,” Loki replied grumpily.

“Svinnr Dróttning,” Thor said in old Earth Norse.

“Swift Queen?” Loki paused and looked at his brother, who grinned at him. It described Sigyn and that is why he used it. Svinnr essentially was swift of mind or wise and drottning was queen.

“Yes, brother,” Thor replied before he went back down the ladder.

“Hmm, Svinnr Dróttning it is, then,” Loki punched in the identifier into the ship’s computer. “At least he didn’t say snotr,” Loki muttered, which was also wise or clever but sounded too much like snot in English.

*********

SIgyn woke sometime later to echoes of Gamora’s screams and she saw Quill and Rocket move towards the noise. Untangling herself from Groot’s branches that had twined around her, she followed after them. Noticing that none of the guards moved to intervene in Gamora’s plight, she manifested two knives and continued to move after the two. As Gamora was cornered at knifepoint near the showers, she stood behind Quill and Rocket and waited to see if she would have to intervene. Gamora handled herself quite nicely by killing two of the four and threatening the last two before the large Kylosian throttled her and moved to kill her.

“Hey, Hey, Hey,” Quill interrupted, holding his hands up, stopping Drax from killing Gamora.

“Crap.” Rocket slumped and then noticed her and her knives. He gave her an appraising look before he turned to watch and see if Quill would be murdered too.

“You know, if killing Ronan is truly your sole purpose, I don't think this is the best way to go about it,” Quill moved slowly closer.

“He’s going to die,” Sigyn told Rocket.

“I hope not, because there goes 40K,” he grumbled as he rubbed his eyes.

“Did he just say he propositioned an A'askavariian?” Sigyn asked Rocket, shocked. A'askavariians had eight tentacles with suction grippers and needles for teeth like an anglerfish. Overall the race was pretty peaceful unless pissed off and then all bets were off. They were humanoid but more octopus-like than human.

“If you think I'm seriously interested in that, then...” Drax waved his knife around while still gripping Gamora’s throat.

“You don't care, but here's the point. She betrayed Ronan. He's coming back for her. And when he does, that's when you...” Quill motioned like he was cutting his throat.

“Why would I put my finger on his throat?” Drax asked, confused at Quill's pantomime.

“No, it’s a symbol.” Quill continued to bury himself in deeper.

“He does realize that his race doesn’t get metaphors and euphemisms? Right?” Sigyn asked Rocket and Rocket grumbled and continued to stress out.

“He’s such a fucking moron,” Rocket muttered.

“Oh, we knew that already,” Sigyn whispered back and they watched Drax let go of Gamora and walk off with one of the knives. Gamora came rushing past them and headed back towards the cells with Quill right behind her. Rocket and Sigyn looked at each other before following after.

“Listen!” Quill whisper shouted, “I could care less whether you live or die.”

“Then why stop the big guy?” Gamora spat at him.

“Simple. You know where to sell my Orb.”

“Last time I checked, she had it,” Gamora nodded towards Sigyn.

“Yup. All mine, finders keepers and all that,” Sigyn grinned at the furious Quill.

“That’s not how it works… well, yes, but she has a buyer,” Quill pointed to Gamora.

“How much was your buyer willing to pay for it?” Sigyn asked Gamora who eyed her suspiciously and then looked at Quill before answering.

“How are we going to sell it if we’re all stuck in here?”

“My friend Rocket, here, has escaped twenty-two prisons,” Quill boasted.

Rocket nodded, his arms crossed, “We’re getting out of here and then we’re headed straight to Yondu to retrieve your bounty.”

Quill ignored him and stared at Gamora, “How much?”

“Four billion Units.”

“What?!” Quill and Rocket shouted as Gamora studied Sigyn’s face and lack of reaction.

“Holy shit,” Rocket was in shock.

“That Orb is my opportunity to get away from Thanos and Ronan. If you free us, I’ll lead you all to the buyer directly and I’ll split the profit between us,” Gamora stated, hiding her desperation quite well, Sigyn thought. “You know what’s it is,” Gamora said bluntly as she focused on Sigyn.

“I do,” Sigyn replied, “but I’m not going to say what is till we get out of here.”

“I Am Grooot.”

“Asleep for the danger and awake for the money. As per frickin’ usual,” Rocket groused as Sigyn giggled.

“Alright then. I have a ship, Sigyn here has the orb, Gamora has a buyer and Rocket will get us out of here,” Quill announced not realizing that Sigyn really didn’t have the Orb. Thinking fast and hard, she decided that she could recreate one with her seiðr by disguising a toy she had stashed in her pocket dimension that was supposed to be a gift for Peter. The Power Stone would be a little harder. Hmm, did she still have that ugly ring with the baby-fist-sized purple gemstone?

They nodded to each other before going to get some rest, Gamora squeezing into the corner with her and Groot.

“I am Groot?” he said softly as the rest’s breathing evened out in sleep.

“I have it covered,” Sigyn mumbled into his shoulder.

“I amm Groot?”

“I’m sure.”

He huffed at her and she fell asleep to his branches creaking as he got comfortable.

******

The next morning they sat at the table with some disgusting food and Rocket got ready to outline his plan. “Is there such thing as space maggots? Or are they universal?” Sigyn asked as she poked the wiggly creature in her mashed green goop.

“I have no clue,” Quill replied as he ate his portion, maggots and all. Sigyn grimaced and pushed it away.

“If we’re going to get out of here, I’m going to need to get into that watchtower and I’m going to need a few things,” Rocket said, “the guards wear security bands to control their ins and outs. I need one.”

“Leave it to me,” Gamora said confidently as she and Quill focused on Rocket and Sigyn glanced around the area.

“That dude there I need his prosthetic leg,” Rocket choked briefly, but quickly sobered as he motioned to the man limping towards them.

“His leg?” Quill asked, surprised, still eating the food.

“God knows I don’t need the rest of him. Look at him, he’s useless,” Rocket rolled his eyes and the man limped by. “And _finally,_ on that wall back there, there’s a black panel. A blinking yellow light. See it? There’s a Cornex battery behind that. Purplish box, green wires. To get into that watchtower, I’m definitely going to need that.”

Sigyn eyed the tower and saw the box twenty feet up and watched as Groot approached the watchtower, “umm… guys?” Quill complained some more and the three of them seemed ignorant of what was going on, “ _guys_?”

“Now this is important, once that battery is removed, everything is slammed into emergency mode and once we have it, we’ll have to move fast. So you _definitely_ have to get that last.” Rocket stressed, they still hadn’t realized.

Sigyn sighed, gave up, and decided that she should be armed if they were going to do this. Just then Groot pulled off the panel, pulled out the battery, turned, and waved it towards them. The prison lights dimmed and the alarms rang out.

“Or we can get first and improvise!” Rocket shouted over the noise and Quill and Gamora rushed off to get the bracelet and the leg. “Uggh!”

“Do we really need the leg?” Sigyn asked as she punched one of the prisoners that came at her.

“No!” Rocket laughed as he made his way towards Groot being shot at by the armed drones.

Dodging the shots from the drones, she kicked one of the guards and took his gun while Draxx knocked down the rest and shouted at Rocket, “Filthy little beast!” and threw a gun at the raccoon. Rocket, now on top Groot, starting shooting at the drones as Groot spun and defended him, laughing maniacally while Groot screamed a battle cry.

“Well done," she praised Drax before she made her way towards the tower, bashing the guards as she went. Groot wrapped one of his branches around her and rose up with Rocket still on his shoulders, bringing her high enough to climb over the railing. She saw that by this time, Rocket had gathered and assembled the items that Gamora and Groot had handed him and was approaching the doors of the watchtower.

Rocket opened the door and the guard was easily removed by Groot before they all dashed in and the door was sealed. Quill was antagonizing the others after being upset about paying for the prosthetic leg Rocket didn’t need, when some more security drones started to fire at the tower. Thankfully they bounced off the tower and Rocket continued tapping the buttons and screens, quickly working to get them out of the prison. All the while Drax and Quill continued to argue and yell at each other while Gamora and Sigyn kept quiet and watched Rocket work. After Quill said another metaphor that Drax didn't get, Gamora nudged her. “We’re gonna die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy.”

Sigyn laughed and grinned at her, “You’re just figuring that out now? But I guess I’ve had a few centuries to get used to that feeling, you should meet my brother-in-law's friends...” Noticing the guards in full gear surrounding the watchtower carrying huge guns, Sigyn sighed. “Rocket? Can you wipe security cameras?”

“Yeah, that’s easy. Why?” Rocket replied as he continued to fiddle with the controls.

“We’re about to get hammered and I can shield us to give us some more time,” She said as she nodded towards the guards. The others now noticed and they moved closer to the windows to get a better view.

“Those are some big guns,” Quill observed and Rocket moved faster.

“Rodent, we are ready for your plan!” Gamora shouted at Rocket before Sigyn started to nudge everyone back.

“Hold on!” Rocket shouted back.

“I recognize this animal. We’d roast them over a flame pit as children. Their flesh was quite delicious,” Drax stated in his booming voice.

Sigyn poked his bare chest, “You’re not helping!” She yelled at him. “Now, everyone shut their mouths and let me focus!” She shifted to her Vanir form and tamped down some of her powers before erecting a shield around the outside of the room.

“What are you doing?” Quill whispered loudly as he eyed her, shock written all over his face.

“Saving your asses,” She grit out as she faced him straight on, “now shut the fuck up!” The shots hit the shield and rippled outward and she used her powers to boost the shield with the energy from the blasts. She started to glow a little as she started to absorb the overflow.

“Is she _glowing_?” Drax asked as she absorbed another round of shots. Suddenly Rocket hit one more button with a gleeful shout and the blasts stopped.

“You turned off the artificial gravity, everywhere but in here,” Gamora grinned at the raccoon.

“I told you I had a plan,” Rocket said gleefully as he disconnected the watchtower from its base and manipulated the drones to attach to the base and lift it up. “Good job, lady,” he praised as they flew through the prison and landed in the storage area, “I wiped everything from when we arrived to your little light show and then shut them down.”

“Thanks,” Sigyn dropped the shield and pulled back her glow so she appeared like Maggie again. She felt energized, it had been a while since she was able to absorb energy like that and she wished Loki was here so she could burn some of that off… _stop_. _Now is not the time_ , she told herself, _we’re trying to escape here_. She blasted one of the windows with her seiðr and they all crawled out.

“That was a pretty good plan,” Quill praised as they ran towards the containers that held their personal belongings. Digging through her armor, she pulled out her hip pack before she tossed the rest into her pocket dimension. She then manifested the toy while changing it to appear like the orb before stuffing it into the pack and buckling it around her waist. She felt Quill come up behind her and look out the window, “Yeah! There it is! Get my ship! It’s the Milano, the orange and blue one over in the corner.”

“They crumpled my pants up into a ball. That’s rude! They folded yours,” Rocket complained as Quill came over and grabbed his clothes.

“And the command codes?” Sigyn asked as she crossed her arms and eyed the ship as Gamora stood next to her.

“We don’t need them,” Rocket said as he threw his gun over his shoulder and grinned at her.

Wait, wait, wait!” Quill dug through the rest of the chest searching for something.

“What?” Gamora asked as she came up behind him, her stuff in her arms.

“That bastard didn’t put it back,” Quill complained.

“Put what back?” Gamora asked as she eyed his stuff.

“Here, get them to the ship, I’ll be right back,” Quill said as he pushed his pack at her and went to move off. “It’s something I need, something important…”

“Let’s go, guys!” Sigyn shouted as she noticed some of the guards moving towards their position.

“Just keep the Milano close by,” Quill shouted as he ran out of the room.

“Did he say what he was going back for?” Sigyn asked as they made their way towards the ship. As they got closer, she could see the flight deck clearly and realized that she could just teleport them using her normal powers instead of Space. Ugh, why didn't she think of this earlier when they were in the storage room?

“What?” Rocket asked as they paused and looked back at her.

“Do you trust me?” Sigyn asked as she allowed her eyes to glow a little and she grinned at them.

“I am Groot!”

“I trust no one,” Drax stated firmly and Gamora nodded.

“Why? What are you going to do?” Rocket demanded as he approached her.

“Save some time,” she said right before she teleported them to the Milano’s flight deck.

“You’ve been holding out on us, lady,” Rocket said as he dropped his stuff and crawled into the captain’s chair.

“I’ve been kidnapped a few times for my powers, so don’t blame me for hiding it unless it’s necessary,” Sigyn said as she shifted to her basic armor that consisted of Tony’s Asgardian metal-reinforced black catsuit with a long leather coat, greaves, vambraces, weapons belt for her sword, and a dark green linen scarf. She had her hair braided to appear like Leia’s on Hoth but with black cording wrapped around the braids and her wedding ring appeared back on her middle finger on her right hand.

“Nice,” Rocket grinned as the ship’s engines fired and it started to unhook from the docking clamps. His paws scrabbled over the screens and he maneuvered them out of the bay and away from the prison. “So how is he gonna get to us?” Rocket asked after they had floated in the black for a half-hour as they waited for Quill to appear.

“He declined to share that information with me,” Gamora groused from the topmost seat of the angled flight deck.

“Well, screw this, then! I ain’t waiting around for some humie with a death wish,” he turned to Sigyn, “You got the orb, right?”

“Yes,” Sigyn pulled out the ‘orb’ from her hip pack and tossed it in the air from them to see, the silver glittering in the lights of the ship.

“Good, because if we don’t leave now, we'll be blown to bits,” Rocket groused as he brought up the navigation screen and it flashed at him. “What the….? It’s bio-locked?!” Rocket grumbled as he tapped at the screen and tried to bypass it. “That stupid…” he muttered more insults as it continued to keep him locked out.

“Behold!” Drax yelled as he noticed Quill flying towards them.

“Hey! It’s Buck Rodgers,” Sigyn called out before she slid down the ladder to confront him at the airlock, “I get first dibs on punching him for holding us up!” It turns out he went back to retrieve his cassette player and the others were not amused, to say the least.

"You're an imbecile," Drax accused Quill, as he strode towards the flight deck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a feeling this story is going to be my longest yet... I'm on page 35 in Word (size 12 and narrow margins) and I'm only through the third chapter! I was contemplating going through and re-writing everything for better flow and then slamming Maggie's story into one... yeah, maybe not a good idea. Anyways...
> 
> Groot seems to have adopted Sigyn and Rocket is like, "whatever, she cool". While Gamora is wondering if Sigyn could be besties, or at least "we're in this together with a bunch of morons. Worst comes to to worse we kill them all and split the profit". Speaking of... How long will Quill last before Sigyn stabs him? I'm betting not much longer LOL
> 
> Thor being a bad driver, confirmed. LOL 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it! <3


	3. Smarmy Collectors and Old Pals

Quill unlocked the navigation and the rest of them went to clean up and change into their clothes. After a while, they settled in the lower deck near the large table below the flight deck and Sigyn approached Gamora. She was pretty sure the reason why The Mother and The Stones were pushing her towards her was that she knew something. But being ‘helpful’ didn’t give her much, so she would have to figure that out for herself. Gamora leaned against the bulkhead while Sigyn took off her coat before she sat on a crate next to her.

“So… Daughter of Thanos…” Sigyn started.

“I had no choice. I despise that **_monster_** ,” Gamora spat out and glared at Sigyn, “Are you going to kill me?”

“Not if you help me,” Sigyn tilted her head. Without using her full powers, she couldn’t get that good of a reading on her metaphysically but she could work with this.

“I guess that’s fair,” Gamora rolled her eyes. “You’re pretty good with your sword.”

“Thanks. It only took me a few hundred years to get it right,” Sigyn joked.

“You’re not Terran,” Gamora stated instead of asked.

“No.”

“You were talking to Loki, he’s of Asgard,” Gamora said offhandedly, “and the blond muscle was dressed similarly…”

“Yes,” Sigyn smiled, amused but didn’t elaborate.

“Being Asgardian would explain how you were able to keep up with me and a long life span,” Gamora smirked at her.

“Mmmhmm…”

“Weapons that appear and then disappear, you must be a magic wielder like Loki.”

“And…?”

“It doesn’t explain why they classified you as Terran,” Gamora frowned and Sigyn kept her silence. “Fine. Keep your secrets,” Gamora growled as she moved to stomp off.

Sigyn sighed and grabbed her arm, “I can wield magic and since I’ve been hiding on Earth for about two hundred years I’ve had lots of practice changing my bio-readings to read Terran.”

“Oh.”

“How do you know Loki?” Sigyn asked as she took a hard look at Gamora.

“I didn’t torture him if that’s what you’re asking, but I was there when he was presented to Thanos before he was sent to Earth. How do you know him?”

“He’s mine,” Sigyn admitted, “we’re married.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.”

“You could have done worse, like Quill or Drax,” Gamora smirked.

“That’s not really a high standard,” Sigyn grinned at her. “I love him, I think I’ve always loved him… he’s going to be so pissed that I got arrested and when I tell him why he’s going to be disappointed,” she mussed.

“Why did you allow yourself to be arrested when you could have just…. Poofed away?” Gamora asked curiously. “You managed to get them away so it wouldn’t have been that hard to disappear yourself.”

“I owed it to Groot and Rocket for fishing me out of the fountain,” Sigyn deflected, not telling the whole truth.

Gamora eyed her and shook her head, “there’s something else.”

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“I’ve seen some pretty outrageous things in my life, I bet I would. Tell me after this is all done?” Gamora asked her seriously.

“Yeah. Sure. We survive this and you get away from Thanos and Ronan forever, I’ll tell you,” Sigyn said as she held out her pinky, “I even pinky promise.”

“What’s a pinky promise?” Gamora stared at the digit.

“Something my son believes in. It is the most sacred of promises,” Sigyn grinned and Gamora stuck out her pinky and she hooked hers around it and shook.

“Hmm, strange,” Gamora unhooked her pinky and eyed Sigyn, “So a son, huh?”

Sigyn laughed, “Yeah.”

Quill came down from the flight deck and started to dig through a compartment in the back before moving up towards the rest of them. Sigyn finally realized that Peter Quill annoyed her. Like Tony on his twentieth cup of coffee, no sleep for three days annoyed her. “Your pop-culture references are twenty years out of date, Quill,” She told him as she eyed the troll doll. “Please stop referring to any Earth pop-culture until I can get you updated.” After his stupid stunt to retrieve the cassette player, she had no patience for him left.

“What makes you an expert on Earth pop-culture?” he told her snidely.

“I have lived there for two hundred years and have a teenage son with two friends,” she replied tiredly. “I can give you a mandatory update,” she wiggled her fingers, “but it might fry your last three brain cells.”

“I’m not sure he even has that many,” Gamora quipped as she came up behind them.

“Hahaha,” Drax laughed loudly, “they called you dumb!”

“Come on, man,” Quill whined and then spotted Rocket on the floor fiddling with a few boxes of spare parts he had pulled from a few corners of the room. He was twisting wires and slotting things together when Quill finally noticed, “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa, Ranger Rick! What are you doing? You can’t take apart my ship without asking me! What is that?” Quill bent down to pick up a device that Rocket had finished a few minutes ago.

“Don’t touch that, it’s a bomb.” Rocket slapped his hand away and kept fiddling with the object.

“A bomb!?”

“Yep.” Rocket seemed a little too smug, it probably wasn’t a bomb… maybe. “I was going to put it in a box.”

“What’s a _box_ gonna do?” Quill was visibly losing his shit a little and Sigyn couldn’t help but laugh.

“Hey, guys? Maybe we should talk about where we’re going to sell the orb?” Sigyn interrupted before it could turn into a full-fledged fight. It was a little too much like being at home again and it was making her homesick.

“You just wanna suck the joy out of everything,” Rocket muttered at Quill as he poked him with a screwdriver.

Sigyn tried to get them to focus again, “Rocket?”

“Yeah?”

“Will your devices kill us all if Quill does some shitty flying and we bump an asteroid?” Sigyn asked as she eyed the pair and Drax wandered over eating some food while watching the show.

“No… well, if he crashes… maybe?”

“Ok, then. That’s all I needed to know,” She sighed, this was worse than being at home. At least Tony kept his mad-sciencing in the lab with the bomb proofing and metal shielding. “Quill quit complaining. Rocket, please don’t take anything apart that we may need for surviving on Quill’s disgusting ship.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

“Ok. Good! So you have a buyer?” Sigyn asked Gamora, “care to share where?”

“Yes.”

“Ok, then.” They climbed the ladder and Gamora punched in the coordinates.

“She has no idea. If I had a black light, the place would look like a Jackson Pollock painting,” Quill’s voice could be heard from below and Gamora and Sigyn looked at each other with disgusted looks on their faces.

“What did I say about pop-culture?!” Sigyn shouted down to the guys.

“It’s not pop-culture, he’s an artist,” Quill shouted back.

“You got issues, Quill,” Rocket responded, disgusted.

“Good thing I have the orb,” Sigyn told Gamora as she confirmed her coordinates from the navigator seat for the next jump.

“Yeah, those morons probably would have killed us all by now and the orb would have been picked up by Ronan or Thanos,” Gamora replied as she locked them in.

“Oh, I would have at least teleported both of us away,” Sigyn grinned, “to a nice warm planet with alcohol and a beach, maybe some cabana boys and girls.”

“We’ll do that after we sell the orb,” Gamora smiled back, “gonna tell me what it is?”

“I thought you knew what it was,” Sigyn said as she looked over at the woman, her eyebrow raised.

Gamora grinned at her, "I'm just making sure you knew what it was." She hit the button and they started to make the jumps to Knowhere.

******

Loki eyed the sphere as it circled overhead as he lay in his bunk, waiting for Sigyn’s coordinates to re-appear. It was tied to her wedding ring and since she probably had it in her pocket dimension it wasn’t picking up on anything. Thor’s snores, from the bunk across from his, echoed throughout the room, making it louder and more irritating than usual. Frustrated he closed the sphere and headed back up to the flight deck and sat in the captain’s chair, manifested one of Sigyn’s handmade blankets, and stared at the gas-giant in the viewport. Surprisingly the blanket still smelled like her, even after the months of campaigning on Vanaheim and it being in and out of his pocket dimension. After a while, the hypnotic swirls settled him enough for him to relax...

_Sigyn’s elbow-length hair had fallen from its braids and chignon and lay in filthy waves around her shoulders. Her gaunt face was streaked in inky war paint, matching the dark circles around her eyes. Ichor dripped from her cracked lips, the rainbow of Marauder blood decorated her armor, her sword blackened with the remnants of her enemies, and her shield dented from their skulls. This was his Goddess of Victory, the one who would fight through Helheim and come out on the other side._

_Victorious._

_Wearing nothing but the blood and bones of her enemies._

_War cries echoed over the field as he fought in his blood-drenched armor beside her, his Vanir sword still as sharp as the day it was forged, easily carving up and slicing limbs off the invaders. Thor’s lightning and thunder echoed over the battlefield, as he blasted and smashed their enemies with Mjölnir as they fought next to the Vanir and Asgardian armies. Sif extended her sword and cleaved through the chests of two humanoid Marauders before severing the head of a third. The Warriors were slicing, maceing, and hacking their way to the front of the battle line, their battle cries the loudest in the field._

_Sigyn was a pale, gaunt, shell of her former self as she hacked her way through the invaders. Just as another wave of Mauraders crested the hill and barreled towards them Sigyn rammed her sword into the soft, blood-soaked soil and screamed a battle cry before she rose off the ground, The Mother taking over, obliterating the enemy in a flash of white light. Sigyn came down into his arms, her glow gone and in its place an ashen hue, her blue veins standing out under her skin. She seemed as if she was Hela, the mythical Goddess of War and Death personified._

_“Loki…” She whispered before she passed out in his arms._

_“THOR!” Loki shouted as he slumped down to the blood-soaked ground, cradling her in his arms. He felt the ooze of the soil below him as he sunk several inches in the mire._

_Thor approached them, knelt down, and brushed her dirty hair from her eyes, her helm long gone to the battle. “We need to get her to the healers,” He muttered, “Her energy levels are way below what they should be.” He lifted her from Loki’s arms so Loki could teleport them back to camp. They appeared directly in front of the Healers tent and Thor maneuvered them past all the people at the entrance. “Move!” He shouted as he pushed through. Everyone moved, bowed, and the head healer ran up to them._

_“Her Majesty!” She shouted as she looked down on her Queen, “Place her down over here,” She motioned them to the back of the tent. Thor moved and lay her down on the cot and stepped back. The Healer closed the curtains around the bed, obstructing their view._

_“Brother?” Thor asked, worried, “What happened to her?”_

_Loki looked over at his brother, “I don’t know, Thor,” Loki said as he was jostled by a healer leading a patient past them. Thor pulled Loki out of the tent and pushed him down on a fallen log and sat next to him. “It’s as if she is dying…” Loki wrapped his head in his arms and pulled at his hair, trying to ground himself. He felt Thor’s hand on his back, in an attempt to give comfort but all it did was make it worse. Standing, his eyes blazed as he focused on his brother, “She’s been sick for weeks now and today she embodied The Goddess of Death,” Loki spat in a fearful rage, “I gained her back only to lose her to this!” He shouted and gestured to the camp and battlefield beyond it._

_“Then we will send her home to Asgard and I will finish this,” Thor said as he stood, held out his hand for Mjölnir. The hammer flew from the battlefield and landed in his palm before he strode off, calling for Sif and The Warriors._

_“Your Highness?” A quiet voice came from next to him, turning he found the head healer. “She’s awake and would like to see you.” He nodded and followed her into the tent to Sigyn’s cot. The healer bowed and then left them alone behind the curtain._

_“What happened?” Sigyn asked as she grasped his hand and he knelt by her side. She was still so pale but the blood, dirt, and paint had been cleaned from her face. Her armor lay around them in pieces along with her sliced-off under-armor. She wouldn’t be happy that they had done that, it was a gift from her brother. Loki sighed, placed her hand on his forehead, before kissing it and holding it to his chest._

_“You used The Mother and then passed out in my arms,” Loki said quietly, “You are going home and Thor is finishing this with The Warriors and Sif.” He paused to see what her reaction would be, but there was none._

_“Ok,” she breathed her voice barely audible. Her eyes fluttered and she squeezed his hand weakly before she pulled him towards her. He moved and leaned over her and she cupped his face with her free hand, “is fatherhood still frightening to you?”_

_He quirked his lips, “now is not the time to talk about this, Sigyn..."_

_Her eyes fluttered as she appeared to blink back tears. She swallowed heavily and her hand slipped off his cheek, “you’re right...” Her breath suddenly wheezed out and her eyes became blank. Frantic he checked her pulse and then screamed in anguish when he realized there was none._

Loki woke suddenly, his heart racing, and unable to catch his breath. It had felt so **_real!_** The smells and the stress of the battlefield lingering around him as he became aware of his surroundings as he struggled with the blanket that was twisted around his limbs.The panic and the need to find Sigyn and clutch her in his arms overrode his thought process… suddenly his arms were free, the orb hit the floor with a clunk. It rolled and clanked as the artificial gravity took hold and it moved down the steps of the angled flight deck. It hit the last step and suddenly turned itself back on, floated up, and started flashing her beacon. The pulsing burst of light pulling him back from the edge of panic, proof that she still lived and breathed in this Universe.

Stumbling to stand, he glared at it and tried to decipher where the beacon was heading since it appeared to be bouncing from system to system. After several minutes it stopped suddenly at a binary system, around a black hole and twin star. He motioned with his hands and fingers, zooming in closer when suddenly the coordinates flashed. “It’s never done that before…,” Loki muttered as he plugged them into the navi-com and Knowhere flashed up. He wondered if the sphere was more like JARVIS or FRIDAY and got information from other sources. “I really hope we don’t have to see The Collector,” he grumbled as he set the coordinates and they started making the jumps.

*******

Sigyn sat across from Drax at the table while Rocket still worked with random pieces of junk, making The Mother knew what. She knew it really wasn’t Power that rested on the table in the pretty casing but she could feel him reaching for her across the Universe. **_Mother? I would like to be released_**. She could feel him trying to stretch out but the restraining orb was constricting him. **_Soon_** , she told him, **_I just need to figure something out first and then I’ll come to you_**. He felt grumpy and he actually harumphed at her in his own way. Loki must be pretty close if she could get a reading on him, but Power had always been the strongest for obvious reasons, so she wasn’t too surprised.

Suddenly she felt her shoulder shake and she looked up at Groot. “I am. Groot?”

“I’m ok, just tired,” she replied and smiled up at him. He wrapped a branch around her and he gave her another one of his little hugs. “Thanks, big guy. I hope I get to take you home to meet Peter and Harley. They’d love to meet you.”

“I Am Groot?”

“Yeah, but I might leave Rocket here. He’d be the worst influence on them, they get in enough trouble without him teaching them how to blow shit up. They do enough of that by themselves.”

“All the more reason for me to meet them,” Rocket grinned at her, his teeth making his smile a little too sinister for that reply.

“Good luck getting past his fathers,” Sigyn grinned back.

“I am _Groot_?”

“No, I don’t have two husbands,” Sigyn laughed, “he has his biological father and then my husband and I adopted him a few years ago.”

“You humans are weird,” Drax grumbled as he cleaned his blade.

“Not human,” Sigyn said to him as she used her seiðr to flash the blade over to her before floating it back to him, Force style.

“You’re still weird.”

“Thanks, Drax.”

They flew into Knowhere and Sigyn shuddered, she hated this place. The last time they had been here, she’d been shackled in cuffs that had bound her seiðr and she had almost been sold as a slave. This time she had The Mother to protect her and more knowledge on how to defend herself and kill a being than she had the last time she had been here. Three realms worth of knowledge, if she was counting.

“What is it?” Drax asked, the others had made their way up to the flight deck.

“It's called Knowhere, the severed head of an ancient celestial being. There are no regulations whatsoever here,” Gamora warned them. “Hundreds of years ago, the Tivan Group sent workers in to mine the organic matter within the skull. The bone, brain tissue, spinal fluid. All rare resources, highly valued in black markets across the galaxy. It's dangerous and illegal work, suitable only for outlaws.”

They got clearance to land near The Collector’s home where he had his massive trove of objects and living specimens. Throughout the universe, Taneleer Tivan, The Collector, had amassed the largest collection of items through the use of illegal dealings or other, sometimes immoral means including bets with The Grandmaster. The contents of the collection, while currently harmless, were also composed of dangerous, even planetary-destructive relics and unlawfully imprisoned sentient beings, who were either made a part of his collection just to fulfill a desire to have them or as a punishment. She only knew about that because her mother had had dealings with him and had left her scepter with him before her death.

After they docked, Gamora led them through the streets, the crowd heavy with workers getting off work and people getting food. It felt very much like Blade Runner with the flashing lights and futuristic griminess. She did not want to be here, but there was something…

“Well, I come from a planet of outlaws. Billy the Kid, Bonnie and Clyde, and John Stamos,” Quill said as he put his hands on his weapon’s belt and tried to look like a gunslinger.

“It sounds like a place which I would like to visit,” Drax said as he eyed the food stand and then the drug den across from it.

“Drax, it’s not like that and that last one is an actor, Quill,” Sigyn shoved Quill who was in front of her. “It’s all superheroes and defending our planet from Chitauri invaders and my husband and child playing pranks on my brothers.”

“Chitauri?” Rocket turned and looked at her questioningly.

“Yeah, two years ago, my husband was mind-controlled and got sent to me with a stick of destiny and tried to acquire the Tesseract while opening a portal for her father. It was not a good time,” She said grumpily.

“Excuse me?” Kids ran past them and wove their way through their group, begging for money. “Watch your wallets,” Quill told them as a kid stopped right in front of her and Groot. “Can you spare any units?” the girl asked as she looked up with her face grimy and a gauntness of poverty. Groot created her a flower and Sigyn pulled a small gold ring from her pocket dimension and handed it to her. The girl grinned at her and Groot before running after the others.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Rocket said right behind them.

“She was hungry,” Sigyn said as she kept following after Gamora and Quill, Groot right behind her.

“I. Am. Groot.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Rocket replied as he followed after them, “Your buyer’s in there?”

“We are to wait here for his representative,” Gamora replied as they watched someone get tossed out and the prostitutes lined up on either side of the doorway.

“This is no respectable establishment. What do you expect us to do while we wait?” Drax eyed the building, the prostitutes, and the name of the establishment.

“I need coffee or sleep,” Sigyn muttered, “why did I listen to you Mother? I could be at home right now in my soft warm bed with access to a shower, Peter hugs, and my snuggly husband,” she groused as they entered the bar/gambling den.

The boys gambled and drank way too much liquor while Gamora and Quill went out on the balcony overlooking the pipelines for the mining facilities. She had gone down a little further from them and tucked herself in a niche so she could try and send her shade to her husband. “My connection is making us wait,” Gamora said softly as they stood at the railing.

“It’s just a negotiation tactic. Trust me, this is my specialty. Where yours is more, ‘Stab, stab. Those are my terms’,” Quill replied and Sigyn chuckled to herself.

She shook herself mentally, took a deep breath, and reached for her seiðr. Using Space and her ring to make the connection to Loki, she left part of her conscious reach.

*********

Loki seriously thought he was dreaming again when Sigyn appeared right next to him. “Hello darling, I see that you and Thor found a ship,” She said happily, but the lines around her mouth and eyes spoke of long days and little sleep.

“Yes, on Xandar,” Loki replied as he studied her, “Knowhere? I thought you said you would never again set foot on it. And I quote, ‘If I ever have to come back to this hell hole, it shall be pushed into that black hole where it belongs'.”

“Promises, promises, I still have time,” Sigyn said tiredly as she looked around, “it’s nice… M-class?” Loki nodded. “It’s a hell of a lot cleaner than Quill’s… what did you name her?”

“ _Svinnr Dróttning_. Thor thought of it,” Sigyn grinned in delight as Loki rose from the seat and approached her, “are you safe?”

“Yes, I left my other eye open,” Sigyn replied as she reached for him and their hands passed through each other. “Why do I always hope that works,” she muttered and he chuckled.

“Because it would mean we could leave a.. what was it Anthony called it? A life decoy model? On Vanaheim while we lived on Midgard away from everyone. Or take a vacation on the beach while making sure Peter doesn’t start fires in the kitchen.”

Sigyn laughed, “he does try. The last time he baked, it wasn’t half bad.”

“He put in a half cup of baking soda instead of a half teaspoon. Those cookies were the worst thing I’ve eaten since we couldn’t start a fire on Taluhnia because the sentient plants would have butchered us.”

Sigyn laughed again before she sobered, “you still have him?” Loki pulled the orb from his pocket dimension and it spun in front of her. “Good, we’re about to go see our favorite Elder of the Universe and I’ll have to put up a good show.”

“Oh, that bastard. At least it isn’t The Grandmaster,” Loki grumbled, “I still have nightmares over the random gropings.”

Sigyn cringed, “I forgot that he visited Mother right before our engagement was to be announced. Something about joining the Elders of the Universe…? I would hug you if I was there.”

“I appreciate the sentiment.”

“Where’s Thor?”

“Sawing wood down in his bunk. I have much sympathy for Lady Jane, that woman deserves a medal.”

Sigyn cocked her head, her eyes unfocused, and then she turned back to him, “We’re being summoned. I love you and I’ll see you soon.” Her form dissolved and she was gone.

“Was that Sigyn?” Thor’s voice came from behind him.

“Yes, she’s on Knowhere.”

“Isn’t that the place she said she’d push into a black hole if she ever had to return?”

“Yes, but let’s hope that doesn’t happen before we can get her off of it.”

********

The Collector was just as smarmy as she remembered. “Oh, my dear Gamora! How wonderful to meet in the flesh,” he kissed Gamora’s hand and ignored the rest of them, which she was fine with. She stood behind Groot with her full glamour up so she appeared to be a scuzzy, badass space girl.

“Let’s bypass the formalities, Tivan. We have what we discussed,” Gamora said sternly before The Collector noticed Groot.

“What is that thing there?” He moved past Gamora and got way too close to Groot for any of their comfort.

“I am Groot,” Groot replied as he shifted to block The Collector’s view of Sigyn.

“I never thought I’d meet a Groot. Sir, you must allow me to pay you now so that I may own your carcass,” He eyed Groot up and down, “At the moment of your death, of course.”

“I _am_ Groot.”

“Why?!” Rocket exclaimed. Good, she didn’t have to get involved. “So he could turn you into a frickin’ chair?!”

The Collector swiveled and looked down his nose at Rocket, “That’s your pet?”

“His what?!” Rocket went for his gun and Sigyn grabbed it before he could while Gamora intervened and distracted The Collector.

“ _Rocket_!” Sigyn hissed under her breath, knowing he could still hear her, “four _billion_ units!” He turned to look at her and held his paws out for his gun as he grumbled curses at The Collector.

“Tivan, we have been halfway around the galaxy retrieving this orb,” Gamora said tiredly.

“Very well, then. Let us see what you brought,” The Collector stepped back and turned away from Rocket, Groot, and her and faced Gamora. She took it out of Sigyn’s hip pack around her waist and handed it to him.

He set the orb in the device and it spun as it opened, holograms appeared, telling a story as he went. “Before creation itself, there were six singularities-.”

“There were **_seven_** ,” Sigyn interrupted, watching the devise spin the orb and purple light start to phase through.

He ignored her, “Then the universe exploded into existence, and the remnants of these singularities were forged into concentrated ingots. Infinity Stones. These Stones, it seems, can be only brandished by beings of extraordinary strength. Observe…”

“Or The Infinity Mother…” Sigyn muttered and sighed as she eyed the poor slave girl glowering at The Collector as the rest of them watched the Celestial, Eson the Searcher, wield Power to destroy Morag.

“These carriers can use the stone to mow down entire civilizations like wheat in a field,” The Collector continued, ignorant of his growing threat.

“There’s a little pee coming out of me right now,” Quill’s voice shook as he paled at the holographic images.

“Once, for a moment, a group was able to share the energy amongst themselves, but even they were quickly destroyed by it,” he turned and looked down at the orb. “Beautiful. Beyond compare,” he motioned jerkily in excitement at the open orb. If only he knew….

“Blah, blah, blah. We’re all **_fascinated_** by it whitey,” Rocket mocked The Collector’s excitement, “But we’d like to get paid.”

“How would you like to get paid?”

“What do you think, fancy man? Units!” Rocket yelled and Sigyn grinned at him. She could count on him to be blunt and to the point. She really was starting to love that about him.

“Very well then,” The Collector turned to get the money, the girl moved even closer.

_Hmmm_ , Sigyn thought as she reached for Reality, she could use this to cover their tracks. **_Come on Reality, be good for mamma_ ….**

**_Mother? Do we want to show our hand and draw The Titian?_** Space asked gently as Reality grumbled but complied. She was refusing to speak but she did give off emotions and general ideas to communicate when she had to.

“Carina! Stand Back!”

“I will no longer be your slave!” She screamed as she reached for the stone.

**_Too late now_** , Sigyn told Space before she forced things to play out as if Power was really there. **_Thank you Reality, you’re the bestest!_** Reality gave her a small feeling of gleefulness before giving Sigyn complete control of her.

****

She used Space to put Carina on their ship and then had Reality create a scene where the slave girl grabbed the stone and then exploded, destroying the Collector’s Collection. That fucking creeper, slaveholding, monster deserved it. She had shielded herself from the explosion and approached the area where The Collector had taken cover.

She knew that her mother had left her scepter with The Collector before she had been killed. The memories she had acquired from The Infinity Mother when she integrated with the entity had shown her that. Sigyn now needed that back, but unfortunately, she couldn’t sense it anywhere on Knowhere. “Hello Taneleer, you look a little pale,” She jeered at him as she leaned over the pit and shifted to her true appearance. He froze in shock and stared at her in disbelief.

“The Infinity Mother,” he whispered before he jumped up and did a traditional Vanir bow. Heels together and straight-backed, his fist in his left palm.

“I feel so dirty just being here,” she muttered under her breath, unfazed by his motion of respect. He would fake subservience till he saw his advantage to seize what he wanted. He was The Collector, after all…“We need Our Scepter.”

“Your Majesty,” he bowed again, “I, unfortunately, placed it in the care of a dear friend of mine.” She caught a waft of him and cringed at his answer and his rotten smell.

“Care of? You really think We believe that after knowing you all this time?” She spat angrily, making her eyes glow in order to intimidate him. He stood straight and appeared to be discomforted by her accusation. “Please tell Us that you didn’t lose it to The Grandmaster?” Those two were always betting and losing things to each other, it was known the Universe over for thousands of years.

“The rumors of your demise and the confirmation of your mother’s… I apologize, Your Majesty. It was put in my care and I have broken you and your family’s trust,” he bowed again.

“We are _older_ than you, Taneleer,” She stated regally, “you know that The Infinity Mother will outlive you and your brother, We will always come for our things.”

“You are correct, Your Majesty. I will ask my brother for its return,” he bowed again.

“Mmmhmmm, We doubt that,” she wished she had Mind right about now so she could read him easier. **_Space?_**

**_Yes, Mother?_** She replied.

**_Is there any way that Mind would be able to assist us?_ **

****

**_No, Mother. I’m sorry._ **

**_Ok._** Threaten and scare it is, then! “ _ **We**_ ** _will retrieve Our Scepter. We no longer trust you to keep any promise that you give_** ,” she channeled The Mother just enough to scare him but not bring too much attention to herself. Thank The Mother that The Celestial head that Knowhere was made up of, hid some of her energy readings.

“Yes, Your Majesty. I apologize for my transgression and will spend my long life making it up to you,” He bowed again and she just turned her back and left. Ugh, she was not looking forward to going to Sakar. That place was literally a dump and The Mother despised The Grandmaster. He may have looked like the kind and amazing Jeff Goldblum, but that Elder of the Universe was a smarmy slaveholding bastard just like his ‘brother’, The Collector. Maybe worse, at least The Collector didn’t pretend to be nice.

Following Gamora and Quill, she found the rest of the group arguing outside, minus Drax. “Where’s Drax?” Sigyn asked.

They ignored her and kept arguing.

“What are you, some Saint all of a sudden? What has the galaxy ever done for you? Why would you wanna save it?” Rocket screamed at Quill.

“Because I’m one of the idiots who lives in it!” Quill yelled back.

“Stop!” Sigyn yelled, “It’s not real.”

“What?!” They all yelled at her.

“I faked the whole thing. We haven’t had it since Xandar,” Sigyn explained.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Rocket yelled at her.

“Let’s go back to the ship and I will explain everything,” She promised.

“Why should we trust you?” Gamora asked harshly, “I just saw the Stone blow up The Collector’s whole collection.”

Sigyn sighed. “Ever hear of The Infinity Mother?”

Gamora paled and looked at Sigyn more closely, “She was destroyed after the last time the Stones were collected.”

“No-.” Sigyn was cut off when Drax came running out with his knives.

“At last! I shall meet my foe and destroy him!” Drax screamed at the approaching ships.

“You called Ronan!” Quill screamed at Drax as the ships came in a huge wave.

“I hate this guy,” Sigyn mumbled referring to Ronan and Drax.

“My love, this is worse than having The Warriors along,” Loki’s voice came from behind her.

“Well, at least The Warriors wear shirts,” Sigyn quipped as she turned to kiss her husband but passed through him. “Please tell me you’re close.”

“We’re one jump out,” he replied as he watched as Drax screamed at the ships.

She turned back and took in the situation. “I can get us out of this, but it might show our hand to Ronan and then Thanos.”

“Then don’t do anything, I couldn’t do,” Loki said before he winked and disappeared.

“Quill! Don't you move, boy!” Yondu yelled at Quill as he and Gamora ran away, quickly followed by Rocket and Groot. “Don’t you move! Get out the way!” Yondu yelled as he pushed his way through the crowd of people. Just as he passed Sigyn to chase after Quill he stopped. “Sigyn? You’re dead, girl!” The rest of The Ravengers ran after Quill and Gamora.

“You’re still alive?!” She grinned at him, “reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated, you know how that is.”

“I’m not _that_ old,” he grinned at her before he hugged her, "I have a few hundo left in me." Sigyn laughed at him.

“I have a Kree to kill, so go easy on Quill since he’s helping me, he just doesn’t know it,” Sigyn said as she pushed him away. “We’ll do lunch sometime,” She shifted into her heavy, ‘Angry’ armor and pulled out her sword. “Wish me luck!”

“You’re crazy, girl!” He shook his head and ran after the rest of his crew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is so much to unwrap here... The Collector and The Grandmaster and then Yondu at the end... I really need to get some prequel stuff done and then I realized that I'd have to go back and do stories for about 15 different references *bangs head on desk* and then I decided to give Yondu a 500-year life span, because why not? And Sigyn and Loki and Thor have gone exploring much of the Universe, so she's been bound to be kidnapped occasionally. Space is rough, man. LOL Since Sigyn's Mother was a queen and hosted an important entity, she was bound to have people visit her. The Collector and The Grandmaster do go around making mischief, it's Marvel Comic Cannon, so it's not too far off that they would land on Vanaheim at some point. Whether or not they were invited or welcomed is probably another story...
> 
> I was wondering why James Gunn used The Collector's Marvel Comic daughter's name for his poor slave/servant girl. It was weird to me... couldn't he have come up with a different name? It's not like there weren't millions of others to choose from... oh well!
> 
> So, I hope you like it. Please comment and tell me what you liked and what was weird to you, because to be honest it just will get weirder as Sigyn, Loki, and Thor go out exploring for more Stones and then magic and more magic and off-world peoples, etc, etc, research and backstories and my poor poor brain.
> 
> Just an FYI It'll be a few days before I post again. I'm back to work and wont have as much time :(
> 
> <3

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, not sorry for space references, and since I love love love SciFi and space movies it was bound to be a bit of a problem in this one. If you're enjoying this, disappointed with it, just as much of a space nerd as me, or would like to make a snide comment about this whole story... please do! I would love to hear it!
> 
> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> <3


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